chuck hagel was right at the time in criticizing the bush administration on this. that's why it has long struck me you would want a man who does not want to rush into warfare as a first resort sitting there in charge of the pentagon. >> right. mike, on a slightly broader scale, are you at all concerned that this president's rightful desire to get our troops out of these entrenched and intractable conflicts, that this may point to a less vigorous role for the united states in terms of international affairs? >> you know, it's one of the big questions before us, martin, and i am struck that the syrian civil war, where i think there are no good answers and i'm not a big interventionist myself, it may require a little more american and international role than we've been willing to countenance so far for the very reason you mentioned but i'm hopeful president obama is actually going to be pretty careful on his subsequent afghanistan decisions as i think you mentioned. today's press conference did not promise any particular rapid drawdown path. yes, we're hearing a genera